Child of Joy
by Symphonic Demon
Summary: What would happen if Gaara had a good childhood? If someone besides Yashamaru loved him? This a little story of how Gaara's life was changed when he met a woman in the park one day. Maybe she could become the mother he never had.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so I'm going to try a little chapter story. Just so you know, there is no romance in this (I'm not good at that), but there is an OC. I hope I don't make her too much of a Mary-Sue, I just wanted her to be kind, optimistic and a little childish. This is only my second fanfiction, and first for Naruto. I'm sorry if Gaara seems a little (or a lot) OOC but he's supposed to be~ I know he's kind as a child before Yashamaru dies, but i gave him a little of his older self's attitude … So, yeah. These events have nothing to do with the anime or manga, I simply was bored and wanted to make something up. Anyways… this will be told in Gaara's POV. Constructive criticism is welcome! Please, give me some so I can improve. I don't even care if it's mean.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters; otherwise Haku would've had a more major role. I only own my OC, Sachi.

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I was only four when I met her.

I was at the park, swinging with my teddy bear perched safely in my lap, my tilted head down. It was late at night, but I didn't want to go home. If I went home everyone would give me those looks. I didn't like the way they gave me those looks or the way whenever I looked at someone they would flinch and shrink away. It wasn't fair; why was everyone afraid of me? Whenever I tried to play with the other children they ran away screaming, "Monster!" or, "Demon-boy!" I'm not that scary, am I?

I was thinking over that day's events, mostly involving the other kids teasing me and running away, when the swing I was settled in began swinging higher and I felt a light pressure on my back. Instant reflexes caused me to stiffen and my precious bear tumbled from my lap. I saw a flash of dirty-blonde from the corner of my eye and looked up to see a hand wrapped around my teddy, holding it up to me. The hand was attached to an arm (thankfully) and that arm was attached to a young woman standing above me. She looked like she was in her early twenties, and she was smiling. Smiling and holding out my bear; smiling that stupid smile that I would become so accustomed to.

"I think you dropped this," she said kindly, placing the bear back in my lap. She then moved behind me and continued to push my swing. Curious, I tilted my head back to stare at her. She was still smiling. What a weirdo, I thought, gazing at her. "What are you doing?" I asked. For a moment, she opened her eyes, and stared at me before answering, "Swingin'."

I stared at her incredulously. "No you're not," I replied. She put a finger to her chin thoughtfully, still pushing me gently with one hand. "Well," she started, "I guess not. But you are, and I'm pushing you, so… Swingin'." She continued to smile. Her smile was starting to aggravate me.

"I can swing by myself!" I retorted. The lady didn't even flinch. All the servants at home would've already scurried away by now; why wasn't she running? She glanced down at me before leaning forward, her short dirty-blonde hair brushing my forehead. "Sure, but you weren't doing a very good job at it," she teased in a sing-song voice. Whoever this woman was, she was getting on my nerves. I frowned up at her and narrowed my eyes; she only grinned wider.

"Who are you?" I asked. She stopped pushing my swing for a minute and put one hand on her hip and another to her chin, as if she was having to remember her own name. Her dark brown eyes met my cyan ones and, still smiling, she replied, "Himura Sachi at your service, Gaara-sama!" I stared at her, wide-eyed, "You know my name?" The brunette/blonde gazed at me, confused. "You're important," was her answer. I scoffed at that, crossing my arms over my chest, "Aren't you afraid of me?" The strange woman cocked her head to the side, "Nope! You're a little boy! I could kick your butt any day!" I gaped at her. Had she really just…? I shook my head at the thought and lowered it.

Sachi stepped away from the swing and bounced over in front of me. She looked at me kindly and held out her hand. "Do you want a snack?" she inquired. For a long while I stared at her hand, I had just met this woman after all. She could be bad; Kankuro once told me about people who took advantage of little kids. "I'm not gonna bite, I promise," she chimed.

Hesitantly, I put my small hand in her larger one. Sachi grinned at me, making me more than a little nervous. "My house is over there," she said, pointing in the direction of the residential area. I nodded slightly and she pulled me along behind her gently.

I gripped my teddy bear tighter as we came closer to the houses where everyone slept. Sachi seemed to notice this and gave my hand a little squeeze as we neared a small two story house that wasn't in great condition, but wasn't too shabby either. The woman at my side reached into the pocket of her pale green skirt and pulled out a small key, sticking it in the lock and turning it. She opened the door and led me inside, flipping a light switch. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see that the inside was in better shape than the outside. There was a living room-like area and a kitchen on the bottom floor, and I could see a little hallway to the side of the kitchen. A flight of stairs went up near the door to the floor above.

Sachi released my hand and shuffled into the kitchen, finding yet another light switch and flipping it on. "Himura-san—" I began, but was rudely interrupted. "Sachi," she corrected, placing her hands on her hips and turning to face me. "Call me Sachi," she repeated. I bobbed my head slightly and ventured away from the door. Sachi let out an "oh crap" and rushed to the door, shutting and locking it, making my skin crawl. The lady sighed, "You never know what kinda creeps come crawlin' when you forget to close your door." She then let out a hearty giggle, "Now, how about that snack?"

She smoothed down her baby blue, long-sleeved blouse and scampered over to the fridge. "You can sit down on the couch, if you'd like," she called from inside the refrigerator. I cautiously maneuvered to one of pale green couches situated in the corner of the larger room as I watched Sachi practically dump whatever she wasn't looking for on the floor as she searched.

"Ah-ha!" she cried, standing up with a glass plate she'd pulled from the fridge. On the plate was a small cake, and I had to admit it looked yummy, but I wasn't going to say that out loud. She shut the fridge door with her hip and carried the pastry over to the counter. "I was saving it for my next book club meeting, but who cares!" The taller woman turned to me. "Well, come on," she coaxed, "you can have as much as you like!"

Slowly I lifted myself off the couch and unconsciously clutched my scruffy bear to my chest as I made my way into the kitchen. She walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a small plate, then walked to a drawer and pulled out a knife. Sliding the knife into the cake, she cut a piece off and set it on the plate. She then found another utensil in one of the drawers and placed it on the plate and handed it to me. I stared at it for a minute, then up at Sachi, narrowing my eyes at her as if this was some kind of trick, then back at the cake. The insane woman just smiled at me. I took a tentative bite out of the pastry and felt my eyes widen. If I had eyebrows they would've probably shot up as well. Sachi grinned as I gobbled up the rest of the treat, ruffling my messy blood red hair. I stiffened at her touch and she seemed to sense this, for she withdrew her hand.

"Do you want more?" she asked gently. I slowly nodded my head. The brown-eyed lady laughed-a sound that caused me to flinch-and cut another slice of cake for me. This time I ate slowly, taking in how the pastry seemed fluffy then melted slightly as you chewed and the chocolaty taste it left in your mouth after swallowing. I felt the corners of my mouth twitch upwards slightly as I ate. When Sachi ruffled my hair again, I didn't flinch.

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**Yay so there's the first chapter. Hope you enjoyed. I'm using the school's computer to post this... so an update might not come fast. **

**The school doesn't know I'm using their computer because I'm supposed to be in art making an artist statement... oh well! Has a lame title, but yeah... it's what the name Sachi means so yup! **

**I say 'so' a lot. **

**Anyways, ciao~!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Doing chapter two because I have 4 minutes left of art...**

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'

It was six weeks after we met that I let someone hug me for the very first time. And received one.

Over the course of the next few weeks, meeting up with Sachi and heading to her house for a late-night snack became a kind of routine thing. She would stop by the park near midnight and push me on the swing for a while, and then we would walk to her house together to eat cake and talk. After that she would walk me home, but she didn't get close to the tower, seeing as how citizens weren't allowed near my home unless Father had a speech to give. She didn't care that I was the Kazekage's son, and if I said something rude she would glare at me sharply and reprimand me.

She never once acted afraid of me, and she never asked about the dark lining around my eyes. When it was time for our snack, I was amazed to see how much she could eat. Sachi was by no means as skinny as a rail, but she wasn't fat either. Kinda like, perfectly in the middle. She was tall and seemed rather hyper, so I wasn't surprised that no matter how much she ate, she never seemed to gain weight. She would sometimes scold me, patting her belly and saying that if I ate too much of her cake I'd wind up like her; she always laughed when she said that.

Today was like every day, only it wasn't exactly like every other day. I accidently got sand in Temari's pretty blonde hair so she yelled at me. Then Kankuro started yelling at her for yelling which only made her yell louder. Then, they both started screaming and throwing things at each other and I got hit in the head with an apple. I know it was just an accident and it was just an apple, but it still hurt. When I got mad and started glaring at them both, they immediately shut up and left mumbling things. I know they weren't nice things. So I left.

It wasn't nighttime yet, but I knew where Sachi's house was, and I didn't think she would mind me coming to visit. The people on the streets steered clear of me, whispering more unkind things. I knew they didn't like me. I clutched the teddy bear I always carried to my person tightly. It wasn't fair. Didn't they sometimes do bad things? I haven't done anything bad… not that I can think of anyways.

The whispers and stares continued as I made my way towards Sachi's house. Sachi's home was the only place where I didn't feel like people were giving me that look. I was surprised to see that when I came to the small house, all the lights were off. I didn't think she'd be anywhere else, so I tried my best to peek through the window near the door, but I was too short. Noticing a bucket near one of the strawberry trees that was she was growing in her yard, I scooped it up and dashed back to the window. I flipped it over to where I could cautiously stand on the bottom of it. I could see about half a foot over the window sill, but my view was obscured by the light blue drapes hanging in front of the window.

I quietly murmured about 'stupid curtains' as I stepped down from the bucket and placed it back where it belonged. I walked back to the door and opted to sit on the steps and wait for Sachi to return home. After about three minutes of waiting, I decided that I was bored and began playing with my teddy and the sand around me. A boy and his mother walked past me and I heard the lady mumble something about 'Himura-san letting that come near her house' before she dragged her son away, leaving me alone again. After about a thirty minute wait of nothing but boredom and stares, Sachi finally arrived. She had four grocery bags on each arm and her small mauve purse was dangling from her mouth. I think I can say she was fairly surprised when I got up, wrapped my small arms around her waist, and buried my head in her squishy tummy. The bottom of her purse brushed against the top of my head as I looked up at her. "I had a bad day," I mumbled softly.

The woman looked down at me, causing the bag to bump against my forehead, and smiled; an infuriating smile that always seemed to make me feel better. She put her hand on my head and ruffled my hair between her fingers. "Ifths okay, Gaara-kun," she replied softly, her words sounding strange due to the purse's handle that was still in her mouth. She giggled, "Want fu go get fome fnackfs?"

And I couldn't help but smile slightly.

It's funny how fast a bad day can turn into a good day or vise versa. After I released her, Sachi took her keys from the front, left pocket of her baggy green capris (the woman loved blue and green) and unlocked the door. She held the door open for me with her foot and made me take one of the lighter grocery bags-earning a glare from me-to the counter as she shut and locked the door behind us.

"Wanna help put these up?" she asked, retrieving items from the bags, her back turned to me. I opened my mouth to say no, that I did not want to help put her things up, but she spoke again before I had the chance. "It wasn't an option." I crossed my arms and narrowed my cyan orbs at her back. "Stop glaring at me and help me put these up or we won't get to have a snack," she said nonchalantly. I gaped at her, "Do you have eyes in the back of your head or something?" Sachi laughed, "Its motherly instincts. At least, that's what my mom always said."

I stared at the floor silently, tugging at a strand of my hair that had fallen in my face. "I don't have a mother," I replied stoically.

For the second time that day, I felt her arms around me. And I thought maybe, just maybe, that as long as Sachi was with me, maybe it wasn't so bad not having a mother.

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**Yay! Now i have to go to science... CIAO!**


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